FOODS NUTRITION. 687 



The following are cited from the author's general conclusions: "On matters of 

 diet every man slmuM lie a law unto himself, using judgmenl and knowledge to the 

 liest of his ability, reinforced by his own personal experiences. Vegetarianism may 



have its virtues, as too great indulgence in flesh f Is may have its serious side, but 



there would seem to be no sound physiological reason for the complete exclusion of 

 any one class of food stuffs, under ordinary conditions of life." 



"Confining our conclusions to general statements, it may be said that our results, 

 obtained with a great diversity of subjects, justify the conviction that the minimal 

 proteid requirement of the healthy man under ordinary conditions of life is far below 

 the generally accepted dietary standards, and far below the amounts called for by 

 the acquired taste of the generality of mankind. Expressed in different language, the 

 amount of proteid or albuminous food needed daily for the actual physiological wants 

 of the body is not more than one-half that ordinarily consumed by the average man. 

 Body weight (when once adjusted to the new level), health, strength, mental and 

 physical vigor, and endurance can be maintained with at least one-half of the proteid 

 food ordinarily consumed; a kind of physiological economy which, if once entered 

 upon intelligently, entails no hardship, but brings with it an actual betterment of 

 the physical condition of the body. . . . 



"Physiological economy in nutrition means temperance, and not prohibition. It 

 means full freedom of choice in the selection of food. It is not cereal diet nor vege- 

 tarianism, but it is the judicious application of scientific truth to the art of living, 

 in which man is called upon to apply to himself that same care and judgment in 

 the protection of his bodily machinery that he applies to the mechanical products 

 of his skill and creative power. Food requirements must of necessity vary with 

 changing conditions, but with due recognition of this fundamental principle, all the 

 results so far obtained in this investigation, with a great variety of persons, point to 

 the conclusion that the real demands of the body for proteid food do not exceed 50 

 per cent of the amount generally consumed. . . . 



"Further, the total consumption of food by the average individual, nonnitroge- 

 nous as well as nitrogenous, is considerably greater than the real needs of the body 

 demand, although here we must give closer heed to the varying requirements of the 

 body incidental to varying degrees of activity. The man whose work is mainly men- 

 tal has no real need for high fuel values in his daily ration. For such a man, a high 

 potential energy in the daily intake of food is an incubus and not a gain. Body equi- 

 librium can be maintained on far less than 3,000 calories per day by the brain 

 worker. . . . 



" Moreover, as our experiments have clearly indicated, even the man who is called 

 upon to perform considerable physical work has no apparent need for a fuel value 

 in his food of 3,000 calories per day. No doubt, the man who works at hard labor 

 for 10 or 12 hours a day will require a larger intake of fats and carbohydrates, suffi- 

 cient to yield even more than 3,000 calories, but this is not true of the moderate 

 worker, nor of the average man whose work is in large measure mental rather than 

 physical." 



Studies of the food of Maine lumbermen, C. D. Woods and E. R. Maxsfield 

 ( U. S. Dept. Agr., Office of Experiment Stations Bui. 149, pp. 60, j)ls. 2). — Five dietary 

 studies and 6 digestion experiments were carried on in Maine lumber camps during 

 the winter season when the men were engaged in severe manual labor. 



On an average the diet furnished 182 gm. protein, 337 gm. fat, and 812 gm. carbo- 

 hydrates, the fuel value being 6,995 calories. The cost per day was 23.5 cts. The 

 large amounts of food eaten are attributed in great measure to the severe work in the 

 open air and the cold to which the men were exposed. The diet was very simple in 

 character, one of the principal articles being baked beans. Bread, cakes of various 

 sorts, some vegetables, and fruit were also eaten with more or less meat and fish. 



